Morning Brief: Bush and Brown warn Iran

Top Story Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Appearing together in London, U.S. President George W. Bush and British PM Gordon Brown issued a sharp new warning to Iran. Brown announced tougher sanctions against Tehran and committed an additional 200 troops to Afghanistan. Global Economy In a statement, G8 finance ministers warned about the effects of high oil ...

By , a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.
594617_080616_brown2.jpg
594617_080616_brown2.jpg

Top Story

Top Story

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Appearing together in London, U.S. President George W. Bush and British PM Gordon Brown issued a sharp new warning to Iran. Brown announced tougher sanctions against Tehran and committed an additional 200 troops to Afghanistan.

Global Economy

In a statement, G8 finance ministers warned about the effects of high oil prices on the global economy and called for increased production.

Honda has begun manufacturing the world’s first commerical hydrogen cars. The problem? Very few hydrogen filling stations.

Foreign travelers are finding bargains in the United States, thanks to the weak dollar.

Asia

A new mystery: Who got A.Q. Khan’s nuclear weapon blueprints?

China’s new environmental menace is earthquakes and floods.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is threatening cross-border raids into Pakistan.

South Korean construction workers have gone on strike in a new political headache for President Lee Myung-bak.

Middle East and Africa

Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is gearing up for Iraq’s regional elections, to be held this fall.

Iraqi politicians say they are in no hurry to sign a status of forces deal with the United States.

Saudi Arabia announced it will boost its oil production by 500,000 barrels. Markets fell only slightly on the news.

Israel’s settlement buildout plans are making Condoleezza Rice angry.

Europe

Flush with petrorubles, Russians are going abroad like never before.

Kosovo’s new constitution is now in force.

Decision ’08

Barack Obama upbraided absentee black fathers in a Father’s Day speech in Chicago.

Today’s Agenda

A top UN envoy is visiting Zimbabwe to review the political situation ahead of the June 27 presidential runoff.

After visiting Gordon Brown and the queen, President Bush is headed to Northern Ireland for the last leg of his Europe tour.

German chancellor Angela Merkel visits Polish PM Donald Tusk in Gdansk.

NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is visiting Ukraine, whose membership was denied earlier this year.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Beirut for a surprise visit.

Blake Hounshell is a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.

Read More On War

More from Foreign Policy

The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.
The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.

America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose

Global war is neither a theoretical contingency nor the fever dream of hawks and militarists.

A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.
A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.

The West’s Incoherent Critique of Israel’s Gaza Strategy

The reality of fighting Hamas in Gaza makes this war terrible one way or another.

Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.
Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.

Biden Owns the Israel-Palestine Conflict Now

In tying Washington to Israel’s war in Gaza, the U.S. president now shares responsibility for the broader conflict’s fate.

U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.
U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.

Taiwan’s Room to Maneuver Shrinks as Biden and Xi Meet

As the latest crisis in the straits wraps up, Taipei is on the back foot.